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Summer of '49: 2 contenders left Topic

Summer of '49 is coming off one of its best seasons ever (in terms of competition and improvements in ownership and level of play). We're down to 2 openings. Both are interesting teams - check 'em out below (take a peek at our newly-active blog while you're at it: Summer of '49 Blog).

Contact commissioner gtnotes with interest in taking on one of these teams.

NL South (formerly Mexico City): This team won the division last year, but had some owner-absence issues early this year and got off to a terrible 3-27 start. Even with an injury to Hub Poole (arguably the best hitter in the NL), they righted the ship and finished on a 27-19 run - more indicative of what kind of team they are. Poole will be fully recovered with no ill effects by the start of next season (no hits to any hitting ratings...just 1 point off speed and health) and ready to resume his 60-HR a year routine. They also feature 2 excellent young (both just completed their rookie seasons) SP's in Andruw Daily and Yannick Elder, both of whom were used sparingly this year (no reason both shouldn't be good for 220+ quality IP per season). They have $75MM committed to ML payroll for the coming season with 2 problem contracts - one is an option for the coming season so it's dumpable, and the other one is done after this year.

In short, there's no reason this team shouldn't contend this season. 84 wins took the division, and this is a better team than when it won 86 a season ago. Only some management hiccups interfered. BONUS for you this year: you get the #7 pick in the draft.

THIS IS A TEAM FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO COME IN AND WIN NOW!

NL East (formerly Syracuse): Always a contender (2nd this year, 1st last year) in the competitive NL East, this team is losing quite a few free agents but will have a bunch of money to play with in a deep free agent class. Slugging 3B Geoff O'Sullivan and versatile Wiki Mota lead the attack, while Steve Charleston headlines the (admittedly depleted) staff. 85 wins took the division this year - this team was just 3 back. Can you improve this team by 4 or 5 games?

THIS IS THE TEAM FOR A SAVY FREE-AGENT BIDDER/WHEELER-DEALER. YOU COULD RE-MAKE THIS TEAM AROUND A NEW STADIUM OR RE-FOCUS ON THE 2 ALL-STAR IF'S. WE HAVE A GOOD FA CROP THIS YEAR, SO IT'S A GOOD TIME TO GRAB A TEAM WITH $$ AVAILABLE!